Police: Father Kills Son on Father's Day

A Jackson Township man, 62, shot his 19-year-old son on Father's Day, killing him in the family’s garage with a .44-caliber magnum handgun after a domestic disturbance, according to state police.

Bernard John Uckele was arraigned at district court in Marshalls Creek on Sunday night, at one point asking a trooper in court how things were going at his house. According to police, he had murdered his son at that house hours Sunday afternoon after a fight with his son’s girlfriend, Jacqueline Martinez.

State police troopers were dispatched to the Uckele home at 8902 Adams Drive around 12:45, police said in court documents. While on the way to the home, police learned that 19-year-old Justin Uckele had been shot in the chest and that his father had left the home in a brown pick up truck.

When they arrived they found the 19-year-old dead in the home’s garage.

“Initially it did not look like our male victim was even involved or even home,” said Lt. Robert Bartal, of the Hazleton state police barracks. “When he arrived home the incident escalated to a shooting, at which time we had a male victim shot and a male suspect flee the scene.”

Troopers on their way to the murder scene saw the suspect’s truck driving on Sugar Hollow Road, about one mile from the shooting. Uckele then tried to flee from police, passing cars and briefly eluding troopers. He was later located on Route 115 and the chase ended when a Pocono Mountain Regional Police car approached from the opposite direction and forced him to stop on Route 115 just south of Interstate 80.

At the scene, police spoke with the victim’s girlfriend soon after the shooting. She told police that she lives at the Uckele home and that she had a fight with the victim’s sister Jenna earlier in the day. Bernard Uckele got involved in the fight and it became physical, she told police.

When she called her boyfriend at work and told Bernard Uckele that his son was coming home, Bernard threatened to kill them both, she said.

She told police that when Justin Uckele came home, he spoke with her and entered the home alone. Moments later she heard a single gunshot. She told police that Bernard Uckele walked calmly to Justin’s car and locked it then got into his truck. She told police that when she asked Bernard “Did you shoot him?” he replied, “Yes, it’s all your fault” and drove away.

During interviews with police, Uckele admitted to shooting his son with a .44-caliber Magnum revolver within three feet. He told police he saw blood and believed he shot his son, according to court documents.

The gun was found in the home. It appears that after the shooting, Uckele returned the gun to storage. Police found the gun loaded with five live rounds and one spent round.

After arraignment before Marshalls Creek Magisterial District Court Judge Brian Germano, Uckele was taken without bail to Monroe County Correctional Facility, where he will await a preliminary hearing.

State police are continuing to investigate the shooting with the assistance of the county coroner’s office and district attorney’s office, Lt. Bartal said at the scene.

Check back at PoconoRecord.com for more information on this story as it becomes available.